‘You’re joking!’ said Adele. ‘How do you manage to keep on top of things then?’

‘With these,’ said Peter, handing her some ledgers off the shelves.

Adele took a look inside the ledgers. She saw that all the nightclub takings had been recorded but the outgoings were only recorded up to two months ago. After that there was nothing. ‘What’s happened to the latest expenditure?’ she asked.

Peter handed her another file. ‘Like I said, Max got a bit bogged down with trying to computerise everything,’ he said. ‘All the receipts are in here. They’ll need writing up into the ledgers.’

Adele sighed. ‘Bloody hell, Peter. You didn’t tell me things were in such a mess.’

‘Why d’you think we need an accounts whizz?’ said Peter, laughing.

But Adele didn’t find it funny. ‘What about the other businesses? What have you got for them?’ she asked, frowning.

‘The files are all on that shelf over there,’ he said. ‘They’ve all got the names on the front of the file so you know which business they’re for.’

Adele stared with dismay at the files he was referring to. There was a ledger for each of the businesses but also a series of A4 folders. She opened one and peered inside. It was full of receipts dating back several months.

‘Has nobody entered these into the ledgers?’ she asked, the disgust apparent from her tone of voice.

‘Don’t think so. None of us knew what to do with ’em. We’ve had a few temps who sorted some of it out but none of them stayed long.’

‘Bloody hell, Peter! You’ve set me a right task here.’

‘Yeah, but you’re up to it, aren’t you, sis?’ He flashed her one of his charming smiles.

‘I’ve got no bloody choice, have I?’ she said. ‘It’s not as if employers are banging on my door to give me a job.’

‘Cheer up, sis. You’ll soon have it all sorted. And, anyway, it’ll be a challenge. Better than sitting at home filling in loads of shitty job applications, isn’t it?’

Adele thought about her frustration during the last few weeks when she hadn’t been able to find work. Not only had she felt frustrated, she’d also felt dejected. The longer she went without a job, the more it got to her.

A job would get her out of the apartment, too. She was getting fed up of her own company. The only friends she had were those still in prison; any others had steered clear of her as soon as they found out about her crime. It would be good to mix with people again.